Can floss STRING along a healthier future?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Needles are scary, but germs are scarier. What if staying healthy meant only a little dental TLC?
Enter Rohan Ingrole and team at Texas Tech University.
Instead of needles, they used floss to deliver vaccines. How?
They coated floss with inactive flu viruses and flossed the teeth of mice! So tiny!
This activated their immune systems, leading to a ONE HUNDRED percent survival rate from the flu. They also showed that flossing can deliver a coating into human gums!
If dental floss could deliver vaccines, vaccination may become easier and more accessible for everyone!
Looks like we’re crowning a new era in vaccines! Ooh, minty fresh…
Reference: Ingrole, R.S.J., Shakya, A.K., Joshi, G. et al. Floss-based vaccination targets the gingival sulcus for mucosal and systemic immunization. Nat. Biomed. Eng (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-025-01451-3